Trump declares public health emergency in response to national opioid epidemic

President Trump on Thursday declared the country's opioid epidemic — which he said kills 175 Americans a day — as a nationwide public health emergency.

The move allows for some limited steps to fight a scourge that Trump noted left more people dead than gun homicides and car crashes combined last year, but will not make any additional federal money available.

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"Beyond the shocking death tolls, the shocking measure of the opioid crisis involves the families ripped apart and for many communities, a generation of lost potential and opportunity," Trump said. "As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue. It is time to liberate our communities from this scourge of drug addiction."

"We will overcome addiction in America," he said.

Trump's declaration will allow officials to expand access to telemedicine services, including substance abuse treatment for people living in rural and remote areas.

Officials will also be able to more easily deploy state and federal workers and secure Department of Labor grants for the unemployed.

The declaration lasts for only 90 days and can be renewed, but it comes with no dedicated funds.

Trump signs a presidential memorandum earlier today to combat the opioid crisis. The President will stop short of declaring a broader national emergency and will not make any additional federal money available to confront the crisis. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The move falls short of Trump's promise to declare a national state of emergency, which would have given states access to funding from the federal Disaster Relief Fund.

The order also falls far short of the initial recommendations made by Trump's own commission on opioids.

The commission, helmed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, recommended mandatory education for doctors and waiving a longstanding federal ban on Medicaid funds being used for inpatient substance abuse treatment.

Trump suggested he's open to providing more help after he reviews the commission's final report, which is expected next week.

"After we review and evaluate the commission's findings, I will quickly move to implement an approximate and appropriate recommendation," Trump said. "But I want the American people to know that the federal government is aggressively fighting the opioid epidemic on all fronts."

Last year, 64,000 Americans suffered fatal overdoses from prescription pain killers, heroin and other opioids, the President said.

Faces of opioid addiction in the Bronx

According to the Center for Disease Control, nearly half of all the opioid overdose deaths in the United States in 2015 involved prescription medications.

Trump said the Federal Drug Administration is requiring drug companies to provide more training to prescribers and he promised to prosecute "bad actors" who illegally prescribe opiates.

"We will be bringing some very major lawsuits against people and against companies that are hurting our people," Trump said.

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He also vowed to pull "one especially high risk opioid" off of shelves.

"We are requiring that a specific opioid, which is truly evil, be taken off the market immediately," Trump said, without naming the drug in question.

The President also spoke about his brother Fred, who died at the age of 43 after struggling with addiction and alcoholism. He attributed his personal aversion to drinking and smoking to his sibling.

First Lady Melania Trump speaks before President Trump delivers remarks on the fight against opioids on Thursday in the White House. (JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

"I had someone who guided me, and he had a very tough life because of alcohol. Believe me. Very, very tough life," Trump said.

Trump said he hoped a massive advertising campaign, which sounded reminiscent of the 1980s "Just Say No" campaign, might have a similar impact. "If we can teach young people, and people generally, not to start, it's really, really easy not to take 'em," he said — although many of those hooked on the drugs were prescribed the pills to help with chronic pain.

The audience at Thursday's proclamation included parents who have lost children to drug overdoses, people who have struggled with addiction and first responders whose have used overdose reversal drugs to save lives.

First Lady Melania Trump introduced the President and said she has recently participated in meetings and listening sessions.

"What I found to be the common theme with all of these stories is that this can happen to any of us," she said.

The President has also urged Congress to add money to a public health emergency fund that hasn't been replenished for years and shift funding for HIV and AIDs programs to provide more substance abuse treatment for people already eligible for those programs.

Last year, 64,000 Americans died because of opioids. (Marcus Santos)

The Public Health Emergency Fund currently contains just $57,000, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Christie, who'd reportedly urged Trump to take stronger action, called the President's moves "an extraordinary beginning set of steps to dealing with this problem."

Critics said Trump's words carry little weight without the funds to back them up.

"How can you say it's an emergency if we're not going to put a new nickel in it?" said Dr. Joseph Parks, medical director of the nonprofit National Council for Behavioral Health, which advocates for addiction treatment providers. "As far as moving the money around," he added, "that's like robbing Peter to pay Paul."

New York City's First Lady, Chirlane McCray, blasted Trump for not declaring a national state of emergency.

"It's on us, as public leaders, to do everything in our power to prevent more deaths and family suffering," McCray said. "No more half measures, Mr. President. It's time to take real action and invest in saving lives."

President Trump shakes hands with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie after he delivered remarks on combatting drug demand and the opioid crisis on Thursday in the White House. (JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Senior administration officials stressed that the Trump administration has already taken steps to bolster the federal response to the opioid crisis, including prosecuting distributors of fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid, and strengthening guidelines for how opioids are prescribed for pain.

But the administration still doesn't have a permanent Health and Human Services secretary or a director of the Drug Enforcement Agency, and Trump's pick for drug czar, Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) recently withdrew his nomination after he was criticized for writing a law that opponents said weakened the government's authority to stop companies from distributing opioids.

This week Food and Drug Administration head Scott Gottlieb said his agency plans to encourage wider use of medications such as methadone and buprenorphine to treat patients with opioid addiction, a step widely seen as critical to addressing the crisis.

Despite rising public alarm about the epidemic, the unmet need for treatment remains enormous, with just 1 in 10 addicted Americans getting specialty treatment, according to the U.S. Surgeon General.

Earlier in the day, Attorney General Jeff Sessions offered an existential answer when asked about the national epidemic.

"I do think that this whole country needs to not be so lackadaisical about drugs," he said, adding that people should just "say no to drug use."

Sessions told a crowd at the conservative Heritage Foundation that he has heard from several police chiefs that drug addiction "starts with marijuana."